Racial Bias in the 2008 Presidential Election - Alexandre Mas UC Berkeley, NBER Enrico Moretti UC Berkeley, NBER, CEPR IZA

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Racial Bias in the 2008 Presidential Election

                                Alexandre Mas

                             UC Berkeley, NBER

                                 Enrico Moretti

                       UC Berkeley, NBER, CEPR IZA

                                 December 2008

We are grateful to Elizabeth Debraggio, Issi Romen, and Fanyin Zheng for excellent

research assistance.

                                        1
1. Introduction

        We investigate whether racial attitudes had a negative effect on the number of

popular votes received by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Two pieces of

indirect evidence point to the possibility that racial attitude did play a role. First, the

increase in the Democratic vote share in the presidential election between 2004 and 2008

was relatively smaller in the Appalachia and some Southern states. Second, there was a

significantly smaller 2004-2008 growth in votes for the Democratic presidential

candidate than Democratic House candidates. While these two pieces of evidence are

consistent with the possibility that racial attitudes lowered the number of votes for

Obama, they are open to alternative interpretations.

        To directly test whether racial attitudes played a significant role, we test whether

Barack Obama underperformed in parts of the country where voters are more racially

biased, on average. Specifically, we test whether the loss of votes experienced by Barack

Obama (compared to John Kerry) relative to the votes that one may have predicted based

on the general increase in the number of Democratic votes in House elections between

2004 and 2008 was larger in states where the white population is more racially biased on

average. We measure racial attitudes using data from the General Social Survey on the

fraction of white voters who support anti-interracial-marriage laws.1

        We find little evidence that Obama underperformed relative to congressional

Democrats in states that have a white electorate with stronger racial bias. We also find

little evidence that turnout was higher among segments of the electorate that are predicted

1
 Variants of this index were used by Cutler, Glasar, and Vigdor (1999), Card, Rothstein, and Mas (2008)
and Charles and Guryan (2008).

                                                    1
to be more racially biased. Overall, we conclude that racial attitudes did not play a major

role in determining the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election.

2. Geographic patterns in the Democratic shift in the electorate

        We begin our empirical analysis by showing the geographical variation in

changes in Democratic vote share.2 The top panel in Figure 1 shows the change between

2004 and 2008 in vote share for the democratic presidential candidate, by county.

Overall, Obama received a larger vote share than Kerry, but there is considerable

variation across state and counties in this increase. Notably, the increase in Democratic

vote share is relatively small in the Appalachian region and some Southern areas, even

without taking into account increased African American turnout in many of those areas.

        To make precise the idea that there is geographic variation in race attitudes

amongst whites, we use data on racial attitudes from the General Social Survey (GSS).

The GSS asks whether the respondent supports laws against anti-interracial-marriage. We

build an index of racial bias that equals the proportion of white respondents in each state

who answers affirmatively to this question.3 When we aggregate states depending on the

value of the index to show how states differ based on this index4, we find that while

Southern states are overrepresented in the group with high values of the index, there seem

to be some variation even within the South.

        Figure 2 show the relationship between the 2004-2008 changes in Democratic

vote share in presidential elections and the race attitude index, by state. Specifically, on

2
  Our county-level Presidential election data for 2004 and 2008 were purchased from “Dave Leip's Atlas of
U.S. Presidential Elections”. District level election outcomes for the House were hand collected from the
CNN and Fox News web sites and aggregated up at the county level.
3
  To maximize sample size, we include all waves between 1990 and 2006. Sample size for this variable is
8757.
4
  We obtain the following grouping: Low: AK , AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, IA, MA , ND, NY, OR , RI ,
UT,WA , WI . Medium: FL, IL, KS, MD , MI , MN , MT , NH , NJ , OH , PA, SD , TX , VA ,VT. High:
AL AR DE GA IN KY LA MO MS NC OK SC TN WV WY.

                                                    2
the x-axis we show the fraction of white respondent in the GSS who report "supporting

anti-interracial-marriage laws". On the y-axis we show the difference between the 2004-

2008 change in Democratic votes in the Presidential election. The figure confirms that

states which score worse in this index saw less growth in the Democratic presidential

vote share in 2008 relative to 2004.5

           A second piece of evidence suggesting the possibility of racial bias is that Obama

gained fewer votes relative to Kerry than Congressional House Democrats between 2004

and 2008. Table 1 provides difference in differences estimates that compare the 2004-

2008 changes in Democratic votes in the Presidential elections to the 2004-2008 changes

in Democratic votes in House elections. The sample includes data for the 2004 and 2008

presidential and house election, by county. The level of observation is therefore county ×

year × type of election (Presidential and House). The dependent variable in columns (1)-

(3) is the share of the votes of the Democratic candidate (scale from 0 to 100).6 The

dependent variable in columns (4)-(6) is the log of the absolute number of votes of the

Democratic candidate. All models include county fixed effects and are weighted by the

total number of votes in the county. The inclusion of county fixed effects is important

because it allow us to absorb any permanent difference across counties in the

determinants of election outcomes.

           The Table shows that the 2004-2008 increase in Democratic votes in the

Presidential elections was smaller than the 2004-2008 increase in Democratic votes in

House elections.         The coefficient in column (1) corresponding to the interaction of the

indicator for presidential election and the indicator for year 2008 suggests that the

5
    This negative slope is more pronounced when adjusting for the African-American share in the state.
6
    Vote share can be 0 or 100 in uncontested races.

                                                      3
increase in Democratic votes in the Presidential elections was almost a percentage point

smaller than the increase in the House elections.7 The corresponding estimate in column

(4) points to a statistically significant -6.6% difference.

         While the above patterns are in principle consistent with the existence of racial

bias, race of the candidates is clearly not the only factor that changed between 2004 and

2008. There are many other equally plausible explanations for the patterns in the figure,

including variation across counties in the relative appeal of the Obama’s program

(relative to McCain’s) compared to the Kerry’s program (relative to Bush’s), differential

shifts in voter sentiment across regions, differences in economic conditions, etc. Even in

the presence of a major realignment of the 2008 electorate toward Democrats, it is

possible that moderate Democratic candidates for the House attracted more support than

Obama for reasons that have nothing to do with race.

         We therefore turn to more rigorous tests of racial bias. If there is significant racial

bias, we should see that Obama underperformed relative to Democratic Congressional

candidates in parts of the country where voters are more racially biased, on average,

based on our external measure of racial attitudes.

         Figure 3 shows the first evidence that Obama did not fare worse in less tolerant

areas. The figure shows the change between 2004 and 2008 in vote share for the

democratic candidate, aggregated at the county level. While there are differences between

the Presidential and Congressional Democratic shifts, the areas where Obama

underperformed also appear to be areas were Congressional Democrats underperformed.

7
 The large coefficient on the indicator for year 2008 reflects the overall shift to the left in 2008 relative to
2004. The coefficient in column 1, for example, points to a 5.5 percentage point higher vote share for
democratic candidates relative to 2004.

                                                       4
Figure 4 shows the relationship between the relative 2004-2008 changes in

Democratic vote share in presidential elections relative to house elections and our race

attitudes index, by state. The figure shows virtually no relationship between these two

variables, implying that Obama did not fare worse in less tolerant areas relative to

Congressional Democrats, on average.8

         Columns (2), (3), (5) and (6) in Table 1 provide a more formal test. We report

estimates of model similar to the ones in columns (1) and (4), where we include the triple

interaction of the presidential election indicator, the 2008 indicator and our attitudes

index. We also include as controls all main effects and all pairwise interactions between

the indicator for presidential election, the indicator for 2008 and our attitude index. Since

the race attitude index varies only at the state level, standard errors in this table are

clustered at the state level.

         Point estimates in column (2) are based on a classification of states in three

terciles of the attitude index, as shown in the Appendix. The estimates show a slight

increase in the Obama relative decline for states in the top tercile of the race attitude

index, but this difference is not statistically significant. Indeed, the more parsimonious

specification in column (2) that impose a linear relationship fails to show any significant

effect. Findings in column (4) and (5) based on the log of the absolute number of votes

yield similar conclusions. Based on Figure 4 and Table 1, we conclude that the relative

decline of Obama is not systematically associated with a higher race attitude index. This

8
  There are two visible outliers in this figure: Vermont and Mississippi. Vermont is an outlier because in
2004 the liberal Independent candidate, Bernie Sanders, ran virtually uncontested. However, in 2008 a
Democratic candidate won overwhelmingly after Bernie Sanders went to the senate. Mississippi is
explained by the first congressional district, where Democrats did not contest seat in 2004, but won the seat
in 2008 against a different candidate. We have replicated our estimates dropping both Vermont and
Mississippi, and found similar results.

                                                     5
evidence suggests that on average, racial preferences did not play an important role in the

2008 election.9,10

3. Analysis of turnout rates

         The finding that Obama did not underperform relative to Congressional

Democrats in areas where whites are traditionally less tolerant towards minorities does

not rule out the possibility that racial bias played a factor in the election. It remains

possible that Obama induced intolerant people to vote who would not have voted

otherwise. If these new voters tended to vote Republican in down ticket races we would

find the observed relationship.

          To address this issue we use exit poll data from 2004 and 2008 to estimate white

non-Hispanic turnout in 2004 and 2008 by state, state x age (18-29, 30-44, 45-64, or 65-

plus), and state x education (college degree or no college degree). We ask whether less

tolerant sub-groups, as measured by a disaggregated attitudes index, saw higher turnout.

         In column (1) of Table 2 we present the estimated β from fitting:

                           ln(t2008,s)- ln(t2004,S)=α+β*IndexS+εS,

where s denotes state, Indexs is the race attitudes index for state s, and tys is the estimated

non-Hispanic white turnout in state s in year y. Column (2) of Table 2 corresponds to:

                           ln(t2008,s,a)- ln(t2004,s,a)=α+β*Indexs,a+εs,a,

9
   In addition to the question on interracial marriage, the General Social Survey also asks whether the
respondent “believes that whites have right to segregated neighborhoods”, and whether he/she “believes
that whites have right not to sell house to blacks." We have replicated our results using these variables as
alternative way to characterize racial bias, and found results similar to the ones reported in Table 1.
10
   An obvious confounder in the above models is increased minority turnout in 2008. To deal with this
issue we have estimated models similar to the ones in columns (3) and (6) of Table 1 controlling for the
triple interaction of presidential race, year 2008 and the share of non-Hispanic whites, blacks and Hispanics
in the population, with all the necessary main effects. Additionally, we included controls for five age
groups, and all the relevant interactions. Estimates from these models are statistically not different from the
ones in columns (3) and (6), indicating that relative changes in turn out rates are not driving our results.

                                                      6
where a denotes age, and Indexs,a is the race attitudes index for state s and age group a.

Column (3) of Table 2 corresponds to:

                          ln(t2008,s,e)- ln(t2004,s,e)=α+β*Indexs,e+εs,e,

where e denotes education, and Indexs,e is the race attitudes index for state s and

education level e. Because we are conducting analyses over more disaggregated data

than before we compute the index over a longer span, 1980-2006, to ensure that the index

can be computed reliably over these more narrow segments of the population.11

        Column (1) shows that there is a small, positive but insignificant relationship

between racial intolerance and the change in white turnout between 2004 and 2008 at the

state-level. The point estimate implies that a state at the 75th percentile of the race

attitudes index (0.26) has approximately 1% higher turnout amongst whites in 2008

relative to 2004 than a state at the 25th percentile (0.13). However, when disaggregating

the data further by age and state the relationship becomes negative and significant. The

reason for this reversal is that older people tend to be less tolerant of minorities, and their

turnout was substantially lower in 2008 than in 2004. Likewise, the relationship is

negative when disaggregating by state and education. GSS respondents without a college

degree are more likely to assert that there should be laws against interracial marriage, and

this segment of the population was less likely to vote in 2008 and in 2004. If anything,

the exit poll data suggests that segments of the population that are less tolerant, on

average, were less likely to vote in 2008 than in 2004.

11
  The 2004 exit poll micro data are from ICPSR study number 4181. The 2008 exit poll data are from the
CNN website (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/ polls.main/). Because CNN does not
provide micro data, our analysis is constrained by the level of disaggregation provided by CNN. We
aggregated the 2004 data into state, state × age, and state × education cells using the weights that were
provided by the pollster.

                                                   7
4. Conclusion

       Our reading of the overall body of evidence is that voters in less tolerant parts of

the country were relatively more likely to vote Republican in 2008. This shift translated

into fewer votes for Democratic candidates, but there did not appear to be bias against

Obama. This interpretation does not rule out racism in the electorate. Certainly, racism

may have strengthened the resolve against Obama in parts of the electorate, but the

evidence points towards the conclusion that these segments would have voted Republican

regardless. An additional possibility is that voters who were influenced by race justified

their decision by voting Republican in all races. While we cannot rule out this possibility

with the data at hand, it would be remarkable if this were to be the case as it would

suggest no tendency amongst voters to split tickets based on racial preferences even in a

small part of the electorate.

                                            8
References:

Charles, Kerwin, and Jonathan Guryan (2008). “Prejudice and Wages: An Empirical
Assessment of Becker’s The Economics of Discrimination.” Journal of Political
Economy 116 (October), pp. 773-809.

Cutler, David, Edward Glaeser, and Jacob Vigdor (1999) . “The Rise and Decline of the
American Ghetto.” Journal of Political Economy 107 (June), pp. 441-463.

Card, David; Mas, Alexandre, and Jesse Rothstein (2008). “Tipping and the Dynamics of
Segregation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (February), pp. 177-218.

                                         9
Figure 1. 2004-2008 Change in Democratic Vote Share in Presidential Elections

Figure 2. The Relationship between the 2004-2008 changes in Democratic vote share in
presidential elections and the race attitude index, by State.

Notes: The x-axis is the fraction of white respondent in the General Social Survey who report "supporting
anti-interracial-marriage laws". The y-axis is the 2004-2008 change in Democratic votes in the Presidential
elections.

                                                    10
Figure 3. 2004-2008 Change in Democratic Vote Share in House Elections

Figure 4. The Relationship between the 2004-2008 changes in Democratic votes in
presidential elections relative to house elections and the race attitude index, by state.

Notes: The x-axis is the fraction of white respondent in the General Social Survey who report "supporting
anti-interracial-marriage laws". The y-axis is the difference between the 2004-2008 change in democrat
votes in the Presidential elections and the 2004-2008 change in democrat votes in the House elections.

                                                   11
Table 1: Comparison of 2004-2008 Changes in Democratic Votes between Presidential
              and House Elections.
                                             Democratic Vote Share           Log(Democratic Votes)
                                           (1)        (2)          (3)     (4)         (5)        (6)
Presidential Election                     .218      2.999       2.559     .164       .039        .261
                                        (.594)     (2.363)     (1.744)   (.018)     (.034)      (.059)
Year 2008                               5.523       4.663       6.999     .195       .226        .161
                                        (.516)     (2.483)     (1.464)   (.019)     (.052)      (.059)
President*2008                           -.942          -        -.629    -.066         -        -.033
                                        (.547)                 (1.670)   (.018)                 (.052)
President*2008*Race Index is Low                     -.580                           -.023
                                                   (1.519)                          (.052)
President*2008*Race Index is Medium                 -1.011                           -.093
                                                   (1.648)                          (.048)
President*2008*Race Index is High                   -1.379                           -.064
                                                   (2.459)                          (.028)
President*2008*Race Index                                       -1.703                           -.208
                                                               (8.332)                          (.210)

County fixed effects                               Y              Y               Y              Y              Y             Y
3 Index Dummies*Year                                              Y                                             Y
3 Index Dummies*President
Index*Year, Index*President                                                       Y                                           Y
            Notes: Standard errors clustered at the county level in parenthesis in columns 1 and 4. Standard errors
            clustered at the state level in parenthesis in columns 2,3, 5 and 6.The level of observation is county * year *
            type of election (Presidential and House). The sample includes data for 2004 and 2008. The dependent
            variable in columns 1 to 3 is the share of the votes of the Democratic candidate (scale from 0 to 100). Vote
            share can be 0 or 100 in uncontested races. The dependent variable in columns 4 to 6 is the log of the
            absolute number of votes of the Democratic candidate. All models are weighted by the total number of
            votes in the relevant county. Sample size is 11290.

            Table 2: Comparison of 2004-2008 changes in white turnout
                                           (1)                 (2)                                       (3)
                                       State cells      State x age cells                     State x education cells
            Race attitudes index          0.08                -0.43                                    -0.22
                                         (0.16)              (0.12)                                    (0.26)
            Observations                   45                  180                                       90
            Notes: OLS estimates. The dependent variable is the change in the log number of estimated white non-
            Hispanic voters by state (column 1), state x age (column 2), and state x education (column 3). Turnout
            estimates are derived from exit poll data from 2004 and 2008. Age cut-offs are 18-29, 30-44, 45-64, and
            65-plus. Education refers to college or no college degree. The race attitudes index is disaggregated at the
            cell-level indicated in the column heading. The index is the fraction of white respondents who respond
            affirmatively to the question of whether there should be laws against interracial marriage in the General
            Social Survey between 1980 and 2006. In columns (2) and (3) the standard errors are clustered on state.
            All models weighted by total number of estimated votes for sub-group in 2004.

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